During the month of September I wrote what I believe to be an I Rock Cleveland record eleven record reviews. October started with a road trip to ATP and super cold. I’m still dealing with super cold (I haven’t spent a full day at work since last Wednesday). In between a number of jams fell through the cracks. This is the second of two posts showcasing some of the finer jams that have yet to be featured here on I Rock Cleveland.

Cleveland’s Mr Gnome have always been one of those acts difficult to pigeonhole. Usually, that’s a good thing. In today’s scene however, being difficult to pin down also means more difficult to sell and more difficult to book and those types of things. “House of Circles,” for example, draws on the underground’s current fixation with dream-pop and shoegaze, but mixes things up with a series of intricate rhythms and passages filled with heavy metal, guitar riffs. Mr Gnome’s latest, Madness in Miniature will be out on October 25h.

Left-Coast shoegazers, Weekend, have cleaned themselves up quite a bit since their first Slumberland release. Listening to “Hazel,” the preview track from their recently released Red EP, and one can hear, well, one can actually hear it. Where before the band chose to cloak themselves in all sorts of static and white noise, and mumbled their way through songs (To great effect, I should add), there’s now a band (A band who really likes Ride, by the way) and a pop song (A really solid one) confidently coming through the speakers.

Recently featured as part of The World Cafe’s next 20 on NPR, Still Corners are a part of a growing legion of UK bands who are drawing their influence from the moodier strains of post-punk and new wave. Yes, with bands like The Horrors, Factory Floor, and Ebsen and The Witch all raising their profiles, I think we can safely say Still Corners belong to a bona fide movement. If only some UK mag would come up with a catch phrase to group these bands together and do so in a way that makes you cringe every time you say it…

When genre-busting, Japanese heavies, Boris, released Heavy Rocks and Attention Spring earlier this year, there was actually a third album of new material released at the same time, but only in their native Japan. Now, you’re asking yourself why would anyone want a third album from the same sessions that produced those other two albums when those albums were hardly the band’s best work? The simple answer is that Boris fans are very loyal. We’ll buy anything Boris and those things Boris which we haven’t bought aren’t from lack of wanting. eBay speculators know they can double or triple the list price on out of print items and still make a sale. Now, if the Boris camp really wanted some quality karma they’d quit it with the alternate track lists (Even this New Album based on the Japanese album has been rejiggered a bit from its initial release) and get around to repressing The Thing Which Solomon Overlooked (I-III) and Akuma No Uta. I love my Boris, but I still balk at spending $400 to round out my collection. New Album will be released Nov. 25th on Sargent House. Lead single, “Spoon,” is featured below.

Latest Reviews

Let's talk about this Spacin' album, Total Freedom, 'cause to be honest, Total Freedom, and the previous Spacin' album, Deep Thuds, are pretty much the only things I've been listening to the past two weeks. Total Freedom shreds. It choogles. It's the work of jam masters. It's a jam monster. Read More